Taiwan, the world’s 21st-largest economy and a democracy to boot, has much to offer the world.

Fast forward another two decades and Taiwan in 2025 has a modern history of democratic elections, peaceful transfer of power, freedom of expression and rule of law. It’s as clear an example as you could want that Chinese society welcomes democracy once given the chance.

12 years after leaving HK I was posted to Taiwan for what became one of my most interesting foreign postings. Taiwan in 2005 was moving resolutely away from the autocracy of Chiang Kaishek’s era in the direction of democracy and rule of law.

It wasn’t easy to push back on that argument. You could gainsay it; but there was little empirical evidence to back you up.

His approach, to strengthen HK’s democratic institutions ahead of the transfer was bitterly opposed by Beijing and many, though not all, of HK’s business sector. An argument you often heard back then was that Chinese society just didn’t do democracy, that it wasn’t their thing.

The going was tough and slow in the wake of the 1989 Tiananmen Square student protests and their subsequent murderous suppression. It became more difficult still when Sir Chris Patten was appointed as the last Governor.

I was in Hong Kong on my first proper posting with the Foreign Office, as Second Secretary in the Sino-British Joint Liaison Group. The JLG’s job was to negotiate the detail of post-1997 Hong Kong.

Scotland has a complex, proud, glorious and tragic military history. Unsurprisingly, it is a major focus of our work.

And the teams who fulfil our core purpose in 23,000 places in 153 countries - here at Tyne Cot cemetery near Ieper in Belgium - are themselves professional and utterly committed. Speak to them, and it’s clear how much the core purpose means to them and their motivation at work.

It’s not only right to honour the fallen in this way, it is also important to highlight this colossal loss - the 1.7m fallen - to tell future generations about the human cost of war. The value of that message rises in line with the increasing uncertainty of our times.

This is a new Bluesky account. I have left my Twitter one behind, along with my diplomatic career. Here, I’ll post mostly about CWGC stuff, but also about international relations, about the extraordinary part of England where I live, and perhaps occasionally about the Arsenal.